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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27913492">Feeling Close, Filling Shoes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piper_Ronnie/pseuds/Piper_Ronnie'>Piper_Ronnie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>League of Legends RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(because I hate changes), Alternate Universe, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Homesickness, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Nods to alcohol consumption, Soft Boys, St. Nicholas Day, Teasing, The crew is snowed in (metaphorically), Traditions, the boys deserve to be happy, under 5k words for our narrator to enjoy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:14:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,999</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27913492</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piper_Ronnie/pseuds/Piper_Ronnie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lots of changes are happening in the off season – but, in another world, Fnatic’s 2020 roster quite literally doesn’t have the option of not to staying together at the end of the year, as the quarantine prevents them from going back to their home countries for the holidays. They make the best out of it, which, naturally, works out a lot better for the team’s couples. </p><p>And now, something as simple as the idea of stuffing candy into a shoe is what brings them all together on the evening before the 6th of December.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alfonso "Mithy" Aguirre Rodriguez/Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen, Martin "Rekkles" Larsson/Rasmus "Caps" Winther, Oskar "Selfmade" Boderek/Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek, Zdravets "Hylissang" Galabov/Gabriël "Bwipo" Rauh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>DreamServer 2020 Advent Event</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Feeling Close, Filling Shoes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello everyone! </p><p>This story is a part of our lovely DreamServer advent calendar, specifically written to relish in the joy that St. Nicholas day was for me when I was growing up... hell, it still is. And our boys deserve the same happiness, don't you think?</p><p>Me and Nirukee collaborated since we're sharing this date, so make sure to check out her fic to get the full story! ;) https://archiveofourown.org/works/27913798</p><p>So yeah, hope you enjoy!</p><p>PS: If you want to join the fun and enjoy exclusive content such as live readings of the holiday fics posted every day, use this link to join our Discord server: https://discord.gg/rDbETBjUQQ promise you won't regret it ;) &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I miss having tons of bacon every morning,” Rekkles muttered as he stared into the snowy scenery outside of Fnatic’s gaming apartment. The ADC let out a small sigh as he turned his head which was resting on his arms. It almost looked as if the Swede was melting in misery, judged by how he was sitting by – or rather halfway lying across – the kitchen island.</p><p>“Why, what’s wrong with my pancakes?” Hylissang mumbled in response, taking off his apron as he was done with making breakfast for the day.</p><p>“Nothing, honey,” Bwipo hummed. He hugged his boyfriend from behind and nuzzled his nose against the support’s neck which caused him to giggle – and all Martin wanted to do was barf. Experiencing the marital bliss of Bwipo and Hylissang first thing in the morning was certainly not something he had missed ever since he had moved out of the apartment in 2018. But, as the hotel he was staying in had to close down for business due to the quarantine, he had had no choice but to move back in. And to sacrifice a lot of his personal freedom, on top of that. His discontent must have shown in the ADC’s face, as his approaching jungler noticed right away.</p><p>“Look who’s already grumpy this early in the day,” Oskar chuckled as he entered the room. He was not usually late for breakfast, but, as he was accompanied by a sleepy Nemesis slouching closely behind the practically glowing Pole, it was not hard to guess what the cause of their tardiness was. Rekkles frowned even harder.</p><p>“Leave him be, Oskar, we’re living in depressing times,” Mithy moaned from the couch. He had resigned to lie down there right away after joining the others that morning. The Spaniard looked a little less apathetic now that Hylissang had provided him with an espresso, but he had not touched the pancake Bwipo had dropped off in front of him, and, admittingly, not being able to go home for the holidays had really hit the coach hard. Or was it not being able to see his boyfriend, who was residing several thousand miles away from him?</p><p>“Depressed or not, you still have to eat,” Hylissang pointed out as he put a bottle of chocolate sauce next to the coach’s plate. He simply grunted in response and turned the other way. “Oh, come on…” the support said softly, sitting down next to the Spaniard, “I know you miss Zven, but this isn’t helping either of you.”</p><p>“Or us! Come on, let’s get into that Holiday spirit!” Bwipo cheered as he plunged down on the couch next to his boyfriend.</p><p>“What do you want me to do, sing a carol or something…?” Mithy sighed. He sat up a bit straighter to make space on the couch.</p><p>“Please, no singing…” Nemesis mumbled. Selfmade was guiding him towards the others as well, but the midlaner’s tired eyes suggested he would have rather stayed in bed.</p><p>“I don’t think our singing would put anyone into a good mood anyway,” Oskar chuckled. He sat down on Bwipo’s side of the couch and pulled Tim towards him as well, which caused the midlaner to stumble and fall right onto his lap. “Woah,” the jungler smirked, looking a little surprised – for a second, Martin felt as if he saw Tim blush. But then, he quickly averted his gaze. If witnessing Bwipo’s and Hyli’s happiness was bitter already, seeing Oskar and Tim was pure hell for him, after all.</p><p>“Oh, get a room!” Alfonso barked sullenly, obviously thinking the exact same thing. “Or go back to your room…whatever, I meant that no one wants to see this.”</p><p>“Come on, Alfonso, we’re trying to be a team here,” Zdravets said calmly, patting the coach’s back. The sheerly endless patience of Hylissang was legendary, and it never failed to impress Martin in moments like these.</p><p>“Or more like a family – we all miss our families, right?” Bwipo added. He sounded saddened, which was quite out of character for the usually so cheery toplaner.</p><p>“Yeah…” Rekkles sighed in the distance. Of course he missed his family – his sister, most of all – but that was not his biggest concern at the moment. He still hadn’t gotten up to join the rest of his team – it felt so foreign to him still, as he had usually spent his mornings alone before. Or with Tim. But that had been off the table for a while now, of course. Now, there was Rasmus again, but he rarely stayed over at Fnatic’s apartment, mostly because of his history with the organization and one of the current players. Martin couldn’t exactly be mad because of that, as he didn’t exactly like to stay at G2’s apartment either because of his history with Rasmus’ teammates. The hotel had been the perfect compromise, an island of their own, where nothing else mattered. But, alas…</p><p>“Martin, why don’t you join us?” Zdravets suggested carefully. “There’s a free spot next to Alfonso…”</p><p>“There’s a free spot on his lap as well,” Oskar snickered. The coach shot the jungler a deathly glance.</p><p>“Very funny…” Martin grunted as he slid off the shaky bar stool to join the others reluctantly. The jungler surely knew how to push his buttons at the worst times.</p><p>“Phew, lots of hostile energy this morning,” Bwipo muttered, shaking his head a little. “Guys, that’s so not pog. If you can’t figure out how to be nice to each other, there’s no way we’re gonna get candy tomorrow.”</p><p>“Candy? Why would we get candy?” Tim asked quietly.</p><p>“What? You know, tomorrow is the 6<sup>th</sup>?” The toplaner replied, blinking a couple of times to express his confusion.</p><p>“Uhm… so what?” Zdravets asked carefully.</p><p>“What do you mean?? <em>Sinterklaas </em>is coming, of course!” Bwipo exclaimed with sparkles in his eyes.</p><p>“<em>Sinter</em>… what?” Oskar squinted at the Belgian.</p><p>“He’s like… I don’t know, like Santa or St. Nicholas or whatever, and he comes on the morning of the 6<sup>th</sup> to give candy and gifts to the children.” Bwipo explained. “Don’t tell me you guys don’t know about that…?”</p><p>“Uhm, no, I guess I’ve heard about people celebrating <em>Nikulden</em> on the 6<sup>th</sup> back home, but my family never really did much…” Zdravets mumbled, now clinging onto his boyfriend’s arm to mask his insecurity. “Is this <em>Sinter…klos</em> important to you, sweetie?”</p><p>“<em>Sinterklaas</em> – and, well, yeah, we still put our shoes out every year and –“</p><p>“Shoes? What does that have to do with freaking shoes?” Oskar asked bluntly. “I know about the candy, but… shoes??”</p><p>“I think you put the candy into your shoes?” Alfonso muttered. He reached out to the coffee table, followed by the hopeful eyes of Hylissang – but the coach only grabbed his tiny espresso cup and then called it a day.</p><p>“Exactly! So you did celebrate it as well, Mithy?” Bwipo asked excitedly.</p><p>“No, no… but my grandma always asked me to polish my shoes on the evening of the 5<sup>th</sup> for the <em>Nikolaus</em> or whatever. I thought it was just because she was senile, god bless her soul… but I guess it is some sort of German tradition as well? I talked about it with Grabbz recently…” The Spaniard said. After taking a sip of espresso, he let out a satisfied sigh. “I wouldn’t mind it if all of you decided to finally clean your shoes, that is for sure.”</p><p>“Polish your shoes… but they’re still shoes, it’s gross to put food in there,” Oskar protested. “If you want to give your kids candy, put it in a bag or something and hide that under their pillow like normal people!”</p><p>“What are you, the tooth fairy?” Martin rolled his eyes. He didn’t know much about this weird celebration, but the Pole’s aggressive tone just irked him too much to stay quiet occasionally.</p><p>“Guys, come on,” Zdravets sighed. “I really feel like this is important for Gabriël, okay?” He gently caressed his boyfriends’ hands, which the toplaner had folded in his lap.</p><p>“Thank you, Zdravets…” Bwipo mumbled. “It’s not just the candy or polishing the shoes with my siblings, we would also… make drawings for Sinterklaas, dream about what we would get together, and storm out to the living room first thing in the morning on the 6<sup>th</sup>, you know?” The Belgian smiled down into his lap, and Martin could feel the sadness in his smile from several seats away.</p><p>“That sounds… nice,” Tim murmured. He hadn’t really said much at all – hell, when did he ever – but Martin saw the concern in the midlaner’s eyes as well.</p><p>“Okay, but… you said your family still celebrates this day every year?” Alfonso asked as he leaned back against the backrest of the couch.</p><p>“Yeah, why?”</p><p>“Well… aren’t you all grown-ups by now?” The Spaniard went on.</p><p>“Yeah, I was wondering about that, too,” Oskar agreed. “You don’t <em>actually</em> still believe in this Sinterklaas guy, right?”</p><p>“What?? Of course not!” Bwipo stammered, shaking his head with determination – but his face turned bright red within seconds.</p><p>“Oh my god…” Alfonso chuckled. It was the first time Martin had seen his coach smile in a while. <em>Of course it had to be out of malice</em>, the Swede thought, and he couldn’t help but grin as well.</p><p>“Guys!!” Hylissang tried to hush them again before tending to his boyfriend. “It’s okay, honey, you don’t have to be embarrassed – I’m sure he’ll find you, even here in Berlin…”</p><p>“No, Zdravets, I’m not a child, okay?” Gabriël smiled faintly. “I didn’t really hope that we would recreate this event at all, I just… wanted to talk about it, I guess.”</p><p>“Yeah, you’re right. We’re not kids anymore, so no one is coming to bring us candy,” Oskar mumbled. He looked grim, despite the fact that he was rubbing his cheek against Tim’s bony shoulder.</p><p>“Well – we could just order some candy, right? If that helps?” Rekkles suggested.</p><p>“That’s not the same, though!” Bwipo sighed.</p><p>“I don’t need candy anyway, looking at chocolate is enough for my pants to become too tight overnight,” Alfonso grumbled in the corner of the couch.</p><p>“I agree, most candy is just gross,” Tim nodded. “Besides, we still have some Kitkats in the upper cabinet…”</p><p>“Aren’t you sick of those by now, though?” Martin asked. He stared at the midlaner, awaiting some sort of reaction – and he found himself wondering how Tim was <em>still </em>sitting on Oskar’s lap, even though that had only been an accident to begin with. He wondered whether the midlaner would have done the same with him, back when they were dating – he never even thought this sort of familiar closeness was an option around his teammates. Then again, that had probably been due to his own apprehension as well… <em>And it doesn’t matter now</em>, Martin thought with a sigh. <em>Might as well let him be happy</em>… But, just as his coach, he had a problem with letting the house’s couple be happy somehow – at least when it happened right in front of them.</p><p>“Alright, I’ve had enough of this,” the coach sighed, rising up from his seat.</p><p>“But you haven’t even touched your pancake!” Hylissang protested.</p><p>“I know, I know… I’ll put it in the fridge or something, I want to try to call Jesper now, okay?” Alfonso explained softly. And, as his eyes, which had previously glowed red in anger, were now filled with such apparent yearning for his loved one, how could anyone have objected?</p><p>“Okay… but you’ll be back later for our boardgame night, right?” The support asked.</p><p>“We’re playing Monopoly!” Bwipo added with a huge smile.</p><p>“Way to keep the peace, huh… well, I’ll bring the eggnog,” Mithy said with a nod, grabbing his plate.</p><p>“Bring it? What, do you keep a stack of bottles in your room?” Oskar inquired, glaring at the departing coach.</p><p>“Can’t spill all my secrets here, eh?” Alfonso shrugged – and then, he was gone.</p><p>“Do you guys think he has a problem with alcohol?” Tim asked solemnly.</p><p>“On some days, I think he has more problems without it…” Martin frowned. Even though he still considered Alfonso to be one of his closest friends on the team, he didn’t exactly like to think about their shared history, especially not when alcohol was involved. But, ever since the Spaniard had gotten back together with Zven, things had looked a little rosier, at least. Technically, the same applied to him, of course. His heart jumped as he recalled the lovely good morning text he had received from Rasmus just that morning, paired with a picture of the small Dane hugging his racoon pillow lovingly. <em>Mornings without you are boring – cuddles soon?</em> Repeating the words in his head was enough to bring Martin’s smile back. <em>I want to see you soon, too</em>, he thought, allowing himself to feel just as fuzzy as the couples around him looked for a moment.</p><p>“Aww, look who’s smiling again now that Mithy is gone,” Oskar teased, grinning mischievously from behind Tim’s small frame.</p><p>“Haha, right, as if that was the reason…” Bwipo chuckled, then stopped to look at Martin. “It’s not the reason, right…?”</p><p>“What? No, of course not,” the ADC muttered with pouty lips. “I was just… thinking about something else.”</p><p>“Or someone else, hmm?” Hylissang smiled. He always had this stupidly happy expression on his face whenever Martin had mentioned his reunion with Rasmus to the support – deep down, the Swede was convinced that Zdravets might have been the one who was most excited about that out of all of them.</p><p>“Maybe…” Rekkles hummed. The edges of his lips curled up without him even noticing.</p><p>“Now that is exactly the kind of spirit we need!” Bwipo exclaimed, back to his old, cheery self, “this holiday season is about love and coming together after all!”</p><p>“Mhm…” Oskar purred, pulling Tim in a bit closer.</p><p>“I can’t breathe,” the midlaner mumbled, but he didn’t struggle, not even close – Martin never thought he would ever see the day on which the Slovenian would actually cuddle someone back. But here it was.</p><p>“Wonderful,” Bwipo concluded, clapping his hands together. “Now, how about we all get out our pencils and draw something for <em>Sinterklaas</em>, just… you know, as a joke?”</p><p>“Oh, honey…” Zdravets whispered, cuddling up to his boyfriend sympathetically.</p><p>“What the fuck…” Oskar moaned, throwing his head back, “not this again…!”</p><p>“Yeah, no, I’m out,” Martin murmured, coming to a stand.</p><p>“Come on, it was, uhm, a joke!” The toplaner said in an attempt to explain.</p><p>“It’s not about that, I just… need to do something else,” the ADC replied.</p><p>“Like what?” Tim asked bluntly, looking up at the Swede.</p><p>“You know… same thing as Alfonso,” Martin stammered, feeling embarrassed for whatever reason.</p><p>“Why would you want to call Zven?” Bwipo asked, laughing about his own joke in the next second.</p><p>“Oh, honey…” Hylissang sighed.</p><p>“Yeah, uhm… later, guys,” Rekkles stuttered before finally fleeing the scene.</p><p>The chitchat behind him only started to grow quieter when he finally managed to close the door of his room behind him. The room which once felt like home but didn’t anymore – at least not yet. But, right now, it felt like a safe haven. Martin clumsily fished his phone out of the pocket of his sweatpants and lied down on his bed. He went to his contact list titled “favourites” and tapped the first entry. In the past, he might have been embarrassed about the number of hearts popping up on his screen as he waited for his boyfriend to pick up – but, after experiencing the sappy tales of the Fnatic couples every day, this felt rather tame.</p><p>“Hello there!” Rasmus greeted eagerly, and, from the sounds of it, he was leaving the noisy chaos that was G2’s ensemble to find a quiet place to talk.</p><p>“Hey…” Martin hummed, smiling even brighter than before. That something as simple as hearing his loved one’s voice could wipe away all the troubles of the day this quickly… it was truly astonishing to the Swede, but he didn’t want to question it. “How’s it going?” He asked instead.</p><p>“Oh, pretty good! Did you know tomorrow was St. Nicholas day?” The midlaner inquired curiously.</p><p>“Yeah, we kind of talked about that today, actually,” Rekkles explained, closing his eyes. “Why do you ask?”</p><p>“Just because we are planning on playing this fun game where Grabbz assessed whether we were naughty or nice this year and – man, that’s going to be so much fun – and, uhh, I was wondering,” Rasmus rambled, just as he always did when they hadn’t talked for a couple of hours. He always had so much to say, but Martin didn’t mind at all. He could listen to the Dane’s silky and joyful voice for hours.</p><p>“What were you wondering about?” Martin asked after the midlaner had come to a rather abrupt stop.</p><p>“Well… do you think St. Nicholas would bring you any candy?”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“You know, were you a good boy this year?” Rasmus teased.</p><p>“Hmm, I sure hope so!” Martin laughed, turning to lie on his side. “But I don’t need any candy… well, I guess I wouldn’t mind a pack of <em>Bilar</em>… but yeah, I think I’d prefer something else.”</p><p>“And what’s that…?”</p><p>“You, of course,” Martin whispered. His heart was beating so fast now, almost as if this was some sort of first teenage love. Yes, maybe that was what it still felt like sometimes.</p><p>“Aww, man,” Rasmus chuckled. “Let’s hope we’ve both been good then, because I wished for the same thing.”</p><p>---</p><p>“I hope we didn’t scare them away,” Hylissang sighed, slouching down into Bwipo’s arms a bit further after Rekkles had left the living room.</p><p>“Oh, I’m sure they’re fine… long distance is just tough, right?” The toplaner wondered aloud. Gabriël couldn’t even imagine how he would spent a single day without Zdravets ever since they had become a couple, which is why he had a lot of sympathy for Mithy, and, well, also for Rekkles. No, it was already difficult enough to be separated from his family during the majority of the year, the Belgian’s heart couldn’t have taken missing his love as well.</p><p>“We’re just really lucky I guess,” Oskar agreed, pressing an enthusiastic kiss onto Tim’s cheek. The midlaner rolled his eyes. “I think you guys are still overdoing it,” he mumbled. “We shouldn’t be so in-your-face about it.”</p><p>“Yeah, uhm, you’re right, Tim,” Zdravets mumbled. “We should be better for today’s game night!”</p><p>“Tonight, yeah…” Bwipo hummed. And suddenly, he felt so sad again. He couldn’t help but imagining his younger self trying to convince his mother to let him stay up for a bit longer, just so that he could see whether <em>Sinterklaas</em> liked his drawing, and what kind of gifts the old man with the long white beard would leave him in his shoes, of course. But his mother would always tell him that Sinterklaas wouldn’t come unless all the children were asleep, so what choice did he have but to go to bed? Bwipo let out a little sigh, because yes, he missed those times, but he missed his mother, and his home, for that matter, most of all. Gabriël’s eyes wandered down to look at Zdravets, who was still cuddled up to the toplaner’s arm. <em>They would have finally met him</em>, he thought sorrowfully, <em>if we could have gone to Belgium like planned, my family would have finally gotten to know Zdravets… the love of my life</em>. Yes, now that he thought about it, his sadness probably had little to do with missing out on Sinterklaas.</p><p>“Come on, Bwipo,” Oskar started, obviously noticing the toplaner’s gloom, “if it’s really that bad, we could just… do the thing with the shoes, okay?”</p><p>“Really??” The toplaner’s eyes widened, and then, he smiled again. Sure, this wasn’t the solution for everything – no, if anything, it was more of a consolation price. But hearing the sceptical jungler give in to the magic he didn’t really seem to believe in just for the sake of Gabriël’s happiness filled the toplaner’s heart with joy. He was truly thankful to have his teammates by his side in these dark times.</p><p>“Yeah, why not,” Tim muttered. “As long as I don’t actually have to clean my shoes, you can put them wherever.”</p><p>“That’s a wonderful idea, guys!” Zdravets said happily, rubbing Bwipo’s shoulder.</p><p>“Yeah, I’ll grab Martin’s shoes too, watch me!” Oskar snickered, raising his fist demonstratively. With one of his arms lifted, Tim took his chance to escape the jungler’s lap. “Hey, wait!” Oskar laughed, trying to pull his boyfriend back in – but the midlaner was already trotting back to his room before the Pole’s hand could get to him. “No… now that this is settled, I want to play SoloQ,” the Slovenian murmured, lazily waving Bwipo and Hyli goodbye as he strolled off.</p><p>“Wait, let’s make it DuoQ,” Oskar yelled out, still grinning as he jumped up from the couch. “Seriously though, let’s see whether the magic lives in this apartment as well, shall we?” He winked at Bwipo before storming after his love.</p><p>“Have fun!” Zdravets called after the jungler.</p><p>And, suddenly, Bwipo and Hyli were the only ones left on a couch that was way too big for two people. But they didn’t really mind the alone-time, especially not under these circumstances. Since it was soothing to know that their team would come together that evening again, despite all of their troubles and differences, to play some boardgames and – well, probably end up fighting again. But that’s what families do, right?</p><p>“Baby?” Bwipo asked quietly, playing with a strand of Zdravet’s thick, black hair as he leaned his head against the support’s.</p><p>“Yeah…?” The Bulgarian’s gaze wandered up to look at his boyfriend’s wondering eyes.</p><p>“Would you… maybe, I don’t know if it’s stupid, but would you… draw something for Sinterklaas with me…?” the toplaner asked shyly. It felt ridiculous that he, a grown-up, would ask his equally grown-up boyfriend to whip out some pencils and crayons to produce a horrible illustration of typical holiday scenes. But, with Zdravets, Gabriël knew that he never needed to be scared of being ridiculous. And he needed him right now.</p><p>“Yeah,” Zdravets whispered, cuddling up against the Belgian’s broad chest. “Yeah, of course.”</p><p>---</p><p>After a game night filled with adventures, laughter, several bottles of booze, lots of cursing and spectacular confrontations that somehow found a happy end, everyone finally went to bed. The shoes of Fnatic’s players had been lined up in front of the door, as that was the next best thing if there was no fireplace available, according to Bwipo. It was a peaceful and surprisingly quiet scene – or, it should have been, during any other night. But this night was not like any other. If anyone had been awake to hear it, they might have wondered why someone was tiptoeing through the apartment in the middle of the night, accompanied by occasional jingling and crinkling noises. But the eggnog had knocked everyone out, even Tim who had barely had a glass to begin with. And so, the mysterious intruder’s work was left unnoticed – at least until the next morning.</p><p>---</p><p>“Okay, but what the fuck is this?” Oskar asked, staring at the row of shoes him and his teammates had lined up as a joke the night before in disbelief. It had only been supposed to be a comforting gesture for Bwipo, nothing more than that. Oskar had stopped believing in the value of Christmas many years ago after all – he didn’t even feel bad about being unable to visit his family to celebrate it this year. Then again, that might have been due to his complicated relationship to his family, not because of the holiday itself. Still, he had never expected anything to come from something as silly as putting out a shoe the evening before the 6<sup>th</sup> of December. God knows nothing would have happened back with his family.</p><p>“Looks like Bwipo was right to me,” Tim muttered, kneeling down on the ground to check what his shoes had been filled with.</p><p>“Ohhhhh my god!” The toplaner cheered as he came closer, followed by a sleepy-looking Zdravets. “Oh my god, this is amazing! <em>Sinterklaas</em> came!”</p><p>“That’s so cool,” Hyli smiled behind him and rubbed the Belgian’s back as he squatted down.</p><p>“Seriously…?” Martin mumbled as he leaned down to inspect the filling of his white sneakers. “But… how?”</p><p>“That’s a good fucking question,” Oskar grumbled. He pulled a miniature Snickers out of his shoe and looked at it from all angles as if it was cursed somehow.</p><p>“Hmm, there are gifts?” Mithy asked casually as he strolled into the room, joining the confused collection of players.</p><p>“Just sweets, tons of sweets!” Bwipo said happily, giving the coach a wide smile. He had already emptied his shoes and collected his booty on the floor in front of him, and, admittingly, Oskar hadn’t seen the toplaner this amused in some time.</p><p>“There are also small gifts I think,” Tim murmured as he tore the red and gold wrapping paper off of a small box. “Oh… is this a fidget spinner?” The midlaner proceeded to play with the little toy, still sitting on the floor next to Bwipo.</p><p>“How sweet,” Hylissang hummed happily. He hadn’t looked into his own shoe yet – he was too busy with mothering his boyfriend, as he usually was. But Oskar didn’t hate seeing that. At least not ever since he had finally gotten together with Tim.</p><p>“So… not to be the party pooper, but how exactly did all of this get in here?” Martin wondered aloud sceptically. He was already sucking on one of the lollipops that had been stored in his shoe, though.</p><p>“I’m telling you, it must have been Sinterklaas,” Bwipo insisted. “He must have loved the drawings Zdravets and I made for him yesterday…”</p><p>“You did what?” Martin huffed.</p><p>“Oh, nothing!” Hylissang chimed in.</p><p>“Magic or not… let’s just enjoy whatever this is, hmm?” Mithy suggested, taking a seat on the couch a few meters behind them.</p><p>“Yeah…” Oskar hummed. The jungler still didn’t really buy the magic Bwipo was trying to sell to him, but that also didn’t really seem to matter now. He looked down at Tim playing on the floor and couldn’t help but smile at how adorable his own boyfriend was. In the end, it didn’t really matter that this was completely different from everything he had experienced in his childhood. If anything, Oskar was thankful for that.</p><p>---</p><p>“Okay, but don’t you think it was a bit cheesy?” Alfonso sighed, scratching his head.</p><p>“No way, they needed this, trust me,” Zven explained on screen of the coach’s computer. The day had gone by in a flash, which Mithy was thankful for, as he could barely wait for his daily video calls with his boyfriend these days.</p><p>“I guess you’re right…” Alfonso mumbled with a soft smile. Yes, talking to Jesper made him feel soft lately – that’s what the fear of falling out of love and then getting back together can do to someone.</p><p>“I think it was the right call to ask Grabbz for advice, too – he probably did the same for G2, but I haven’t asked Luka about it yet,” Jesper explained. The ADC ran his fingers through his messy blond hair, almost as if he hadn’t looked into a mirror before joining this video call. It made sense, as the Dane mostly joined the call after barely getting out of bed, but Alfonso still found himself getting amused by how messy his boyfriend could be. He was probably the only person for who the coach wouldn’t scrunch up his nose for because of that.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah… he knows a thing or two I guess. And he was right, they were really happy…” The Spaniard said with a smile. He then went ahead to grab the drawing which had been stuffed into Bwipo’s shoe. “What am I supposed to do with this now, though?”</p><p>“Oh wow, what are those red, uhh, circles? And purple… boxes?” Jesper wondered. He got a bit closer to the screen, almost as if that could have helped him recognize what the toplaner had tried to express with his red pencils.</p><p>“I think this…” Mithy pointed at a collection of red and black circles, paired with a little smiley face, “this is supposed to be Sinterklaas, the Belgian Santa or something. These are the gifts and the rest… uhm, I don’t know. Bwipo isn’t exactly an artist…”</p><p>“Yeah, no shit!” Jesper laughed.</p><p>“But look at this…” The coach adjusted his glasses as he read through the wishes the toplaner had scribbled down on the back of the paper. “He really asked for some holiday magic in the Fnatic apartment, and… I guess that’s what they got!”</p><p>“They sure are lucky to have you,” Zven hummed with a smile.</p><p>“Right?” Alfonso chuckled. “What am I, the best coach ever? The granter of wishes? Or… <em>Sinterklaas</em>, or whatever?”</p><p>“You’re missing the white beard, though,” Zven grinned. “If that’s what he was trying to draw…”</p><p>“Pff, you’re gonna see my white beard soon enough,” Mithy joked – he didn’t even realize what he was saying until the words had left his lips. The Spaniard gasped as soon as he did.</p><p>“Are you saying you wanna grow old with me, ‘Fonso?” Jesper whispered.</p><p>“S-shut up,” the coach stammered, blushing a little – even when he was a thousand miles away, the ADC never failed to find the Spaniard’s weak spots, after all.</p><p>“Alright, alright…” The Dane laughed. “Don’t say it, then, but… could I at least get an ekiss for helping you be the best coach ever today?”</p><p>“Well…” Alfonso hummed quietly. He looked into his boyfriend’s dreamy eyes, which he could never say no to anyway, and let out a small sigh of defeat.</p><p>“Yeah, I think we could arrange for that.”</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Aaaand that's a wrap on our St. Nicholas day special! Or is it? Depending on whether you read mine or rookie_nina's story first, it might not be, hmm? </p><p>I hope that I made your second advent a little sweeter! Kudos/comments (here on ao3 or under #event-talk on the DreamServer) are highly appreciated! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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